How to win at social media during a General Election

In the midst of a general election, there are myriad things you’re going to be focusing on: campaign strategy, creating awareness and educating voters, tackling mis/disinformation… just to name a few!

Maximising the potential of social media to promote your day-to-day campaigns can prove challenging , but adding the General Election into the mix is a different ballpark. Of course, the pre-election period of sensitivity (or period of heightened sensitivity, previously known as purdah) means you must carefully craft your messaging to ensure you are in alignment with the guidelines. Depending on your organisation, this period can vary in length of time and from when it begins.

Social media presents an opportunity to reach a wide audience, not just in terms of numbers but also various demographics. Pushing messages out on social media reaches people much quicker than offline methods of campaigning, so you have the chance to act (and react) as events take place.

Whilst the GE will consume a lot of your posting schedule, some people will simply turn a blind eye to it until the last minute. Stay on top of keeping your local community informed with what they need to do, when they need to do it, and how they get it done. This can be in the form of simple posts with information on registering to vote and deadlines, where their local polling station is, or maybe running a Q&A session to make sure your community is in the loop.

Throughout the General Election campaigning, the public will be looking to see which party best represents their interests, so they can decide who they wish to vote for. To best know whether policies, campaigns, or other local initiatives (even outside of the election period) are relatable for your community, take advantage of social listening and media monitoring tools to really understand who you’re speaking to. Better yet, incorporating feedback posted publicly on socials will show that you’re listening and build trust in your area. Community intelligence tools also allow you to gain insight into how your community feels about the upcoming election, giving you inspiration for content that would benefit your audience.

Each social media platform has the option to target specific audiences. You can do this based on demographics (age or gender), geographic location, or even behaviours and personal interests…  Targeting your messaging gives you the opportunity to reach audiences that you might not usually,  in the hope that your content will resonate better with the intended audience rather than creating something that’s a catch-all and resonates with no-one. Don’t be afraid to use different social platforms to reach different audiences too – not everyone will be an X or LinkedIn user, especially now TikTok is captivating younger audiences!

Thanks to the immediacy of social media, you can make posts in response to events as they happen, or respond to inbound messages or comments as they arrive. The general public are likely to be much more vocal on social media during the campaigning period, so invite them to interact with you directly so you know the information they’re receiving is accurate. Politics can be a highly divisible subject, so by interacting with and engaging your community you can stop the spread of mis/disinformation, educate your audience, and encourage them to come directly to you when they need assistance.